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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

It just keeps getting better

I swear, I can’t make this stuff up. I was scheduled to work at a Primary School as a support teacher for this week and next. As I was waiting, I was asked to work as an office assistant. I was willing to give it a whirl, until I found out that it was £7 an hour. I made that amount when I worked at the grocery store in 1996. I know jobs are scarce but luckily I don’t need one that badly.

Instead, I agreed to go in and teach at a school for Thursday morning. I am so glad I did. The school was big, and nice, and the staff was really friendly. No one was shouting at kids in the hallway. None of the kids were being complete jerks either. It really made me re-evaluate the whole, “You have to be mean,” attitude of teaching. I had a really enjoyable time, and even got to observe a student teacher. That really made me think that maybe, somehow, some day, I’d like to work as an English teacher again.

I thought I was going to get my chance when the teaching agency called me to do a mini-lesson and have a chat with the staff at a really nice school on Friday. They were looking for 2 English teachers to start on Monday, and there were going to be 4 of us interviewing. I was encouraged and excited, because I was dreading going to the Primary School when I didn’t know exactly what I was going to be asked to do.

When I got to this interview, however, the Head of English didn’t even introduce himself or speak to me longer than to say that he was going to let the other two candidates (two men) do their mini-lesson first. I waited in the staff room while I had copies for my lesson made. When another teacher (I think – no one talked to me there) came and got me, she led me to a Year 7 class where I did a creative writing lesson. The Head of English stayed a good 10-15 minutes, then talked to the classroom teacher before leaving. When I was finished the classroom teacher led me back to the staff room where the other maybe teacher told me that the other candidates had left (except one lady who still had to do her mini-lesson) and they’d “be in touch.” No chat, no real interview. I thought I had a chance but, surprise, surprise, I wasn’t selected for either of the 2 jobs.

In the meantime, my back had been aching from sitting in the chair too long a while ago when I bought my Katy Perry Sweet Treats add-on for Sims 3. I’ve never had a backache, but when I got to the Primary School on Monday I was in full-blown spasm attack. I couldn’t sit comfortably, and after an hour and a half of being there, I was convinced I was going to have to leave early. I couldn’t walk or sit. I was grabbing on to the Xerox machine, the desks, the doorjamb, etc. just to move around. Instead of calling a taxi (or an ambulance, as I really thought at one point when I was stuck and panicked in the bathroom), I stayed until the end of the day. I let the Year 1 and the Reception teachers know that usually I would sit at the desks with the kids and be much more useful, but I was in a bad way.

This morning, Steve decided to stay home with me because I couldn’t even roll over in bed. I let the teaching agency know at 6AM that I couldn’t come in today but I was more than willing to come in the rest of the week. Tonight they called and told me that the school decided to keep another lady they sent in to replace me today. Surprise, surprise.

Granted I may go back again later, but even if I don’t, I can’t be worried about these kinds of things. It’s nothing I can help, and I can just keep trying to find something. I was bored just sitting around feeling uncomfortable, but maybe if I’m not sent off anywhere else tomorrow (if I’m even able to do it, that is) I can get back to my work in progress. As I always say, that’s the important work I want to do, the rest is just to have some kind of decent money, enjoyment in the things I like, and contentment in a place to go and be useful each day.

I guess I can do that while sitting at a cafe with my netbook and my Kindle, huh? Too bad no one’s paying me for that yet.